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Today's Top News
Judge Blocks Gulf Offshore Drilling Moratorium
Breaking: Look for updates as this story develops.
NEW ORLEANS – A federal judge in New Orleans on Tuesday blocked a six-month moratorium on new deepwater drilling projects imposed in response to the massive Gulf oil spill.
The White House said the administration would appeal. It had halted approval of any new permits for deepwater drilling and suspended drilling at 33 exploratory wells in the Gulf.
Several companies that ferry people and supplies and provide other services to offshore drilling rigs asked U.S. District Judge Martin Feldman in New Orleans to overturn the moratorium, arguing it was arbitrarily imposed.
Feldman agreed, saying in his ruling that the Interior Department failed to provide adequate reasoning for the moratorium. He said it seemed to assume that because one rig failed, all companies and rigs doing deepwater drilling pose an imminent danger.
"An invalid agency decision to suspend drilling of wells in depths of over 500 feet simply cannot justify the immeasurable effect on the plaintiffs, the local economy, the Gulf region, and the critical present-day aspect of the availability of domestic energy in this country," Feldman wrote.
The moratorium was imposed after the April 20 explosion on the Deepwater Horizon drilling rig that killed 11 workers and blew out the well that has spewed millions of gallons of oil into the Gulf.
The Interior Department said it imposed the moratorium so it could study the risks of deepwater drilling. But the lawsuit filed by Hornbeck Offshore Services of Covington, La., claimed there was no proof the other operations posed a threat.
The moratorium was declared May 6 and originally was to last only through the month. President Barack Obama announced May 27 that he was extending it for six months.
In Louisiana, Gov. Bobby Jindal and corporate leaders have opposed the moratorium, saying it will result in drilling rigs leaving the Gulf of Mexico for lucrative business in foreign waters. They say the loss of business will cost the area thousands of lucrative jobs, most paying more than $50,000 a year. The state's other major economic sector, tourism, is a largely low-wage industry.
In its response to the lawsuit, the Interior Department said the moratorium is necessary as attempts to stop the leak and clean the Gulf continue and new safety standards are developed.
"A second deepwater blowout could overwhelm the efforts to respond to the current disaster," the Interior Department said.
The government also challenged contentions the moratorium will lead to long-term economic harm. Although 33 deepwater drilling sites were affected, there are still 3,600 oil and natural gas production platforms in the Gulf, the government said.
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23 Comments so far
Show AllAbout time somebody moved to protect the Gulf States lucrative new bird cleaning industry!
Maybe Bush/Cheney's still President and elections don't matter.
Of course he did, how big is his house, how many cars does he drive, what kind are they, does he have any swiss bank accounts,
I am followed 24/7 , and I am a no body, maybe if we used the same resources on this judge we can find out how much cash he is given by the oil lobby and where its hidden.
Hell , if the United Stazi of America can find it , they can keep the cash, its ok with me.
If our judges and lawyers are going to allow warrant less surveillance with immunity, then they should be subjected to the same suspicious observations that they allow us to be subjected too.
wow, I may join the stazi just too get even with our justice system.
naa, never, I could not sink that low, I love our country, and our constitution,
I just hope our justice system finds out before its too late, there in no place in America for a stazi network of rat fink slanderous spys.
Duck Season? No, wabbit season. No, Afghani season, Iraqi season, Pakistani season, marijuana smoker season, Gulf of Mexico flora and fauna season. Time to cancel America's endless wars of aggression against the human race and Mother Nature.
Lousy, stinkin', sorry arsed, piece of shit, corrupt motherfucker! I still don't feel better. :(
We have the largest, non nuclear, man made disaster ever, occurring right now, and for the foreseeable future. (yeah, there have been bigger oil spills, and the dust bowl was pretty bad, but this one isn't over yet, it is just starting) The waters we rely upon to replenish the bulk of oxygen on the planet are being poisoned. This seems like a great opportunity for an activist judge, and capitalist terrorist sympathizer, to step in and make sure that nothing stops their greed.
The equasion is simple:
Gulf Offshore Drilling = G.O.D.
Not surprising. Our legal framework is designed by wealthy private interests to serve wealthy private interests. Quite simple really.
We poor plebes and peons could not survive if it were not for the benevolence of legislators, judges and corporations and we owe them the respect they deserve (a trip to the guillotine that is)
Tell you what, that's a good way to put millions of folks back to work, as Guillotine Operators.
"...cannot justify the immeasurable effect on the plaintiffs, the local economy, the Gulf region.."
interesting. thats what I said about the BP blow-out.
Just wait until we hear the wonderful "word vomit" they will all spew in another 60 days after the "relief well" fails.
Do you mean when one of the relief wells experiences another well head blowout like the Deepwater Horizon? This is not a "leak". This is not a "spill". This is an ongoing well head blowout that has not yet, and may never be, brought under control.
How come none of the MSM talking heads are asking about safety measures taken with the relief wells? 45% of blowout preventers fail. Did they test the ones they are using on the relief wells, or would that have cost too much? Are they even using them on the relief wells? Are they using dual BOP's as they should be? Have they made provisions for stopping a well head blowout on the relief wells in case the BOP(s) fail?
Should Barack give Ralph Nader a call and ask what's gone wrong? Why he doesn't seem to have any power? Why his moratoriums get swatted aside? Why his generals are making fun of him? Why his top advisor wants to go back to Chicago where he can make a difference? Why BP goes straight from an ass-kicking to a private yacht race? What does a guy have to do to get some respect?
Because the WH answers only to Wall St and they want drilling to resume.
Obama hides behind anyone and everyone to implement his true agenda, even the courts.
Funny how tawyers arguing the governments (us) case always seem to lose against corporate interests (Citizen's United) but lawyers arguing bogus National Security claims that strip our civil liberties usually win.
And when they do lose Obama just ignores the ruling.
Upholding the law when convenient. Otherwise, toss it in the circular file.
Legally, the judge made the correct decision. The White House had no legal standpoint to declare a moratorium on deepwater drilling...even though it was the correct decision. IF the White House and the country wants a moratorium, then they need to persuade Congress to pass one...of course that is a lot easier said than done. I agree that a moratorium should be in place to examine the safety of the other rigs in the Gulf, but sadly there is a limited legal recourse the President can do. This judge was making an interpretation of the law and it was an accurate interpretation. If you want to complain, make the complaints towards the legislature who makes the law.
Exactly, is any legislation with teeth to rein in BigOil being proposed? Any bill to end BigOil subsidies and tax breaks? Liability caps?
Until I see some bullet-proof binding legislation, I consider all the rest BS.
Can you explain why, legally, you think the judge made a proper ruling? I am really confused about this. Obviously, this issue is a matter of serious national security, at the very least (I believe it is more than that as well). Just from that standpoint, it is abundantly clear that if an enemy attacks and blows up a deepwater rig, we are completely helpless to stop it. That is an obvious way to shut down the productivity of an entire region, very quickly. I predict that these will be the next targets, so had we better not figure out what the heck we are doing in the Gulf, before allowing further drilling? If we did have two such spills, we will turn the entire Gulf into a vast and reeking dead zone, a decomposing soup. We might have done that already. I do not understand how a small-time racketeering judge can overturn a moratorium issued for purposes of national security; this is very very scary!
"Judge Blocks Gulf Offshore Drilling Moratorium"
"[Feldman] said it seemed to assume that because one rig failed, all companies and rigs doing deepwater drilling pose an imminent danger."
Yes. I would think that's the obvious lesson to be learned - on the "Deepwater horizon".
Apparently that's how stupid I am. Or Feldman is.
Devils cannot do other than be devils, except maybe pretend to not be devils.
The article quotes the Interior Dept. as saying that it (or Obama?) "..imposed the moratorium so it could study the risks of deepwater drilling."
Really?
And what, I wonder, does the US government expect to find out at this late date, that common sense wouldn't have told it before?
That it'll always be very risky to drill for oil in very deep water?
That's a no-brainer, given Murphy's Law.
And that it was therefore doubly risky to issue BP (and other companies) "waivers" that obviate maximum-safety blowout preventers?
That's a no-brainer, too.
Right now, Obama's Justice Dept. is investigating potentially criminal wrongdoing by BP.
That's fine. Find BP guilty and hang 'em high.
But note that the governemnt itself is already prima facie criminally neglegent in this disaster, due to its slipshod regulatory oversight. Any investigation worth its saltwater needs to make that fact clear above ALL else.
So, then: Will the Obama Administration find itself criminally negligent in this case, and mend its ways in dealing with this or any other out of control corporation?
I'm sorry for such a silly question.
Unfortunately, human intelligence is dwarfed by the supreme arrogance of those who worship the Almighty Dollar. We have punctured the proverbial Pandora's Box. At 100,000 psi, there is no technology in the world that can stop that kind of pressure. What in God's name was BP thinking? I highly doubt any relief wells will work. Given the pressure behind the blowout, the whole well casing is in the very least severely compromised, but more realistically most likely broken. We may be witnessing a slow-motion ELE (extinction level event). Prepare for the worst. This is only the beginning. If they decide to go with a nuclear bomb to try to fuse the rock strata above this gargantuan oil deposit, you had better say your prayers that they know what they are doing and fully understand what the various sub-seafloor strata consist of. Otherwise.... I shudder to think.
Yup, all the things you mention here are on my mind now, all the time. Every morning when I wake up, I wonder if this will be the tipping point, if we will really be seeing the beginning of the collapse of global industrial civilization very soon, much sooner than expected......
Well, I only disagree with the assertion that "there is no technology in the world that can stop that kind of pressure". Otherwise I agree with what you've written. Some of the major problems the court did not address is that one, nobody is trying to actually STOP the leak, they're only trying to "control" it, ergo, the leak goes on; two, this company and every other operating in deep waters has lied on their applications about their ability to control such an event, three, BP specifically downplayed the event from the onset, therefore not allowing agencies involved to adequately address the urgency of the event, and finally, the agency designated to oversee this industry is rotten to the core and ALL decissions of this agency for the past year at least need to have a 'cease and desist' order to review application data and procedures.
This may or may not be a global ELE, but it certainly is an ELE for indigenous wild life of the area. Perhaps all those worried people in the gulf who want to resume drilling for the JOBS can just collect some of that washed up sludge and develope ways of cooking it up for a gumbo, after all, it is a hydro-carbon, like beer and bread. Better still, can't drill, put on some coveralls and boots and clean up waterways and beaches at BP's expense and prevailing area wages. No need to sit and listen to the RUSH about how the administration is causing them not to work, they can actually help pick up what their industry has caused.... just an idea.